In the biography of William Holden (Bob's older brother), "Golden Boy," Bob Thomas describes Bob Beedle's death in air combat at Kavieng, New Ireland in the South Pacific:

"Ensign Beedle, who had already destroyed two Japanese Zeros, had been part of a carrier-based squadron of Hellcats escorting dive bombers on the raid. The Hellcats were attacked by half a dozen Zeros, and Beedle's plane was apparently hit as he turned to intercept a pair of Japanese planes that concentrated on him. Said his section leader: 'His Hellcat swept upward in a lazy loop, pulled out just above the water, flew level for a few seconds, then plunged into the whitecaps. His guns were still blasting.'"